Precipitation and Evaporation as the Science of Human Creation Like a boy who holds a piece of marker Scribbling on a white board Writing, erasing… God writes, too, But erases, with purposes. And so when HE writes, Prints of shoes we find at our doorstep, Like the footprints of rain on the chest of the earth. Then I learnt, That everyone comes as two bodies, heavenly bonded, Showing God's journey to the earth. At a time, a body of water Leaves green footprints on tree-begging palms, With a water pot Emptying itself without breaking. At other times, a sun that flashes the earth To set, leaving no ray behind But clothes every tree with brown leaves, With a pot's shards, Or bore its content for the soil or both. Here, I knew that, The soil upon which trees were raised Is in serious rivalry with the trees For God's gift whenever he visits the earth. Trees are closer to the sky But this does not matter, As a gift that is meant for the soil Shall have its way into her mouth, Through the thin lines in between trees' palms. And if a gift is meant for the tree, Trees shall be perfect enough to save the score. At first, I thought this was God's bearing a scale Between the trees and the soil, But no, the soil has it all in the end As all was just about writing now and erasing later.
Ridwanullah Solahudeen, Olalekan is a Common and Islamic Law undergraduate of Bayero University, Kano. He is a patriotic member of the Nigeria’s largest youth and teen writers’ Foundation, Hilltop Creative Arts, Osun branch. His works have appeared and forthcoming on Spillwords, the Piker Press, Synchronized Chaos, D’lit review, Al-mirath Islamic magazine, the academy of hearts and minds, inter alia. He was the winner of the Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria’s Best Essayist Award for secondary schools in Nigeria, 2019; Mahmud Kola Adesina, SAN, Osun State Best Essayist Award for Secondary Schools in Osun, 2020; Brainbuilders Teen Speak Out 7.0, 2019 1st runner-up award; and Stars Writers’ Award for his short story, Without Despair. Ridwanullah is currently making ASUU’s suffocating strike win-win for himself at Ikolab Mayor Aluminium Depot, where he is doing his entrepreneurial training.